Online Repair Manuals

How can you get online access to repair information without having to purchase a factory repair manual? Here are some sources.

Many sites offer free online repair guides; others cost money (sometimes lots of money!). Here's a list of North America sites that we''ll try to update as replies are posted. Please reply if you have a link for online repair info or to report a dead link. For owner's manuals please see Where To Find Your Car Owner's Manual Online.

Free Sites:

Edmunds Forums:

Well duh, we have to plug our own site - you won't find a service manual but you will find lots of helpful owners (some of whom own factory manuals and may look up stuff for you at midnight). Go to the Forums tab and Browse by Make/Model for your vehicle. This Maintenance & Repair board is always a good bet for finding help too, especially the Got a Quick, Technical Question? discussion.

Your local public library may subscribe to an auto repair database. For example, the Seattle Public Library subscribes to the Alldata.com repair database and offers free access for their patrons (online and in the library). Other libraries subscribe to the Auto Repair Reference Center offered through EBSCO Publishing, or as in my case, Chilton's Online. You can call your local library to see if access to a database is offered or perform a net search for "Auto Repair Reference Center State" or "Chilton's online state" and substitute your locale for "state" in the search string.

Manufacturer sites:

Some auto manufacturers also offer free service information online. .Hyundai is one - their Webtech page is aimed at dealers but you may be able to access it by registering. More details are available in the Hyundai Online Shop Manuals Access forum here.

Kia is another - you can register at their techinfo site and get access to lots of factory information.

American Honda's Service Express offers free Owner's Manuals starting with 2002 Honda and Acura vehicles and some specific guides that mainly focus on audio and security options. They also offer a paid subscription version of Service Express at the same link that covers all vehicles back to 1990 plus all active Technical Service Bulletins back to the early 70's (the same info that is available to your local Honda or Acura tech). (Thanks nearmsp!).

General Motors has MY GMLink. It's a source for digital owner's manuals and includes recall notices. (thanks George!).

Autoparts and Enthusiast sites:

If you are trying to install or remove an accessory, many online auto parts companies offer instructions. Crutchfield is well known for offering detailed instructions for car audio and video applications. The Install Doctor is another good site for radio installation info. Installdr.com.

BAT Auto BAT Auto has lots of articles that may help you with your repair as well.

Paid Sources:

If you can't find free access to a manual, you can purchase access to various databases. There are lots of places to buy manuals on CD, DVD and paper - this guide tries to limit sources to those you can access with your computer. If your front axle won't go back in the splines at midnight on a Saturday, waiting for the UPS truck to arrive Monday morning with a manual isn't the greatest solution. So here's a listing of paid online sources - if you know of others, please reply and let others know about them.

Alldata DIY In addition to comprehensive diagnostic and repair information, you'll also find the latest technical service bulletins and shop hours estimates here. Shifty uses this one a lot.

(Many sites link to Alldata through their webpages, for example, the BAT link above has an affiliate link through to Alldata that helps support their webpage).

Mitchell1. Subscription online repair information geared for a single make/model.

Mitchell1 also offers a subscription service geared towards pros and the price reflects that, but a one month subscription could be useful if you are doing a major overhaul on several different makes of cars. It's called OnDemand5.

Comments

Actually I use ALLDATA PRO, which is the one most shops use, and this covers all cars. ALLDATA DIY is just about the same thing, but they restrict you to one car/one subscription--that's why it's so much less expensive than PRO.

Still, for someone who is into DIY, ALLDATA DIY is a great deal. I think it's about $29 / yr.

This isn't strictly a repair link. RockAuto offers a tool where you can compare parts costs between different makes of cars. It's a bit similar to Edmunds' True Cost to Own calculator but limited to costs of parts.

You may be surprised to learn that a replacement parts for the used car you are thinking of buying costs one and a half times more than parts for a different brand.

i have a 2000 ram 1500 with a manual 5 speed tranny, i have lost 1st and second gears, except when first decides to trade places with 2nd, any chance that there might be a drawing or a picture out there that shows where the forks are suppose to be placed ?or an online Manual that i can look at.

Having trouble finding a wire harness diagram. i need to see how to replace the wires and plugs. the check engine light came on. took it to get a test and said #6 is missfireing and no flow to the evaporator canstier, were are these located on the engine? Are they do it your self jobs or take in?

Plugs and wires are something you should be able to do easily yourself. Couple of caveats- - Some of the plugs may be hard to get to, depending on engine orientation - Some of the plugs may have seized in the plug hole, making removal difficult

If you do the job yourself, use some anti-seize compound on the threads of the new plugs, and use a small amount of dielectric grease on the boots of the plus wires.